Elliot on Trial
by Kelly of the midnight dawn
Summary: Elliot is accused of a horrible crime. The only person who can clear his name is the victim who happens to be in a coma. While the prosecution builds it's case, will Elliot's friends begin to doubt his innocence?
1. Chapter 1: Doubting a Friend

**Elliot on Trial**

**Chapter 1: Doubting a Friend**

**Disclaimer: Don't own them right now but my birthday is coming up in a few days. Dick Wolf, you would make me very happy if you wrapped them up and sent them to me. Oh and could you put a nice bow around Elliot? wicked grin I'm bad.**

**A/N: I had an idea swimming in my head for a little while and of course, this week I've just been writing a lot of stuff so I decided to write this. I hope you all like it.**

"You've got to be kidding me Casey," Cragen looked at the papers in his hands "As if this wasn't bad enough before. Why am I a witness for the prosecution?"

"You're their commanding officer," Casey responded with a heavy sigh "You've seen them interact. You've seen the way he reacts some times. I wouldn't have risked it but I'm not the ADA on the case, remember?"

Cragen nodded, he definitely remembered. How could he possibly forget? He sighed and looked at the subpoena in his hands once more "I know he didn't do this," he said resolutely to Casey.

"I'm with you," she stood from her chair "But there's no evidence to the contrary."

Cragen nodded sorrowfully and turned to leave Casey's office. He had two stops to make before he could go home and resist the urge to climb inside that bottle again. "See you later," he murmured unenthusiastically as he closed the door behind him.

"Tell him I say hi," she said in a voice barely above a whisper.

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Elliot sat down and stared at Cragen on the other side of the glass. He picked up the phone in front of him "Hey," he said in a sad voice. He seemed to be moving in slow motion these days. Nothing had seemed real since that morning that Munch and Fin had knocked on his apartment door and told him that he had to come down to the station, that he was a suspect in… he couldn't even think about it. What he had been accused of was just to horrible for him to even fathom.

"I've been called as a witness for the prosecution," Cragen told Elliot, not wasting any time.

"You don't think I…" Elliot trailed off "Don," he addressed his captain by name "You know I could never…"

"I know Elliot," Cragen reassured him "I don't know what kind of trick this new ADA is trying to play but I'm not gonna let him get away with it."

"What are you saying?" Elliot asked.

"I'm not gonna testify," Cragen told him, knowing full well the implications of what he had just said.

"Not only will you go to jail on contemp charges," Elliot began, trying to convince Cragen why this was the wrong thing to do "But the prosecution will think that you have something to hide."

"I do have something to hide," Cragen told him softly "I've pulled far too many strings for you two over the years. My refusing to testify is better for you in the long run."

Elliot shook his head "I can't let you do this."

"It's not your decision," Cragen stated before changing the subject "I've almost got enough money together for your bail."

Elliot sighed in relief "I need to see her," he whispered.

"Even if you make bail," Cragen said sadly "There's a restraining order in place. Her hospital room is under constant guard."

Elliot hung his head "I need to see her," he whispered again.

"Trust me," Cragen told him straightforwardly "You don't want to see her this way," Cragen tried to keep himself from crying but he felt his eyes misting over anyway.

"You need to find the person who did this," Elliot tried to keep his voice even but he was angry. While he sat in jail the real perp could be out there hurting other women or planning to come back and finish what he started.

"Munch and Fin are trying as hard as they can to get to the truth," Cragen told him "But proving your innocence isn't their nine to five job."

"This isn't about my innocence," Elliot felt the anger bubbling up inside him "This is about catching the man who attacked my partner, raped her and left her to die in some God forsaken alley. This is about making sure that he can never do this to anyone again."

"She's safe where she is," Cragen reassured him "The only people let past the door of that room are her doctor, me and a few select nurses. There's a twenty four hour guard. If anyone suspicious shows up, we'll get him."

Elliot sighed, that would have to be enough "Have you seen Kathy or the kids?" he asked. None of his children had come to see him since he had been arrested. He hadn't heard anything from Kathy either. He wondered if she really believed that he could hurt anyone in the way that he was being accused of hurting Olivia.

Cragen nodded "Kathy came by the squad room," he sighed and looked away. He decided to leave it at that and not say anything about what Kathy had said. Any decisions that Kathy made about their children were her business to discuss with Elliot.

"Did she say anything?" Elliot asked, making Cragen wish that he could just get up and walk away.

"That's something you should talk to her about," he said simply. He wished that he hadn't heard what Kathy had said. Heck, he wished that he hadn't sent Elliot and Olivia home that night that it had all happened; perhaps he wouldn't be sitting here in this position if he had told them that they should have stayed even five more minutes longer than they did.

"You're going to visit the hospital after this aren't you?" Elliot knew his captain all too well.

Cragen nodded "I'll let you know if there's any change," he told Elliot. There hadn't been one in the three weeks since it had happened but he, Munch, Fin, Casey and especially Elliot were hoping and praying that there would be an improvement any day now.

"What did the doctors say were her chances?" Elliot asked. He asked that question every time that Cragen came to see him. He hoped that maybe her odds had changed.

"Thirty percent chance of waking up," Cragen stated, the same way he had every day for the past seventeen days "Ten percent chance of waking up without any permanent brain damage." The last part always made Cragen think; even if she woke up, there was a ten percent chance that she wouldn't be able to clear Elliot's name.

"She's tough," Elliot murmured, the same way he did each time he heard those odds "She's beaten the odds before and she'll beat them again," he didn't even ask about her odds of walking again and he didn't want to even touch the subject of how she would recover emotionally.

"She's a fighter," Cragen agreed, more to reassure Elliot than anything else; he had gone to the hospital every day. He had seen how frail she looked. He had watched as the ugly bruises that had covered her face and arms and places that he couldn't see them but knew that they were there, faded and left her looking paler and more vulnerable than he had ever remembered seeing anyone in his whole life. He knew that even if the restraining order hadn't been in place, he couldn't let Elliot see her like that.

"Talk to her for me?" Elliot requested in a small voice; the weeks of solitude in prison had taken their toll on him "Let her know that I miss her," he raised the back of his hand to his eyes and wiped at them in a futile attempt to quell the moisture and keep the tears at bay "Tell her I love her and…" he trailed off. He knew that his messages of love that he passed on to Olivia through Cragen were partly the reason why Cragen refused to testify but that wasn't the only reason he had stopped talking. He took a deep breath "Tell her that I don't want her to be in pain," tears fell now and he couldn't stop them "Tell her that if she needs to… tell her that its okay to let go," he buried his face in his hands.

Cragen nodded. Silently, he refused to deliver the last part of Elliot's message. He knew that what Elliot had said, he said out of love but there was no way that he could let the only witness who could clear Elliot be lost that easily "I'll let her know," he told Elliot, even though he only intended to tell her the first two things.

"Thanks," Elliot whispered. He hung up the phone and stood up. He headed back to his cell where he could cry in private.

Cragen sat there for a few seconds watching Elliot go before he too got up and left. No guilty man would ever react that way. Cragen knew that Elliot could never have hurt Olivia but there had been so much pressure to make an arrest. He sighed as he got into his car, hoping that Munch and Fin would find something that could clear Elliot. If they couldn't, then the entire case rested on the testimony of a woman who currently lay in a hospital, surrounded by guards and in a deep coma.

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"Whoever did this knew enough to clean her up so there wasn't any DNA," Fin told Casey.

She sighed; she had called Munch and Fin into her office to find out the facts of the case. She felt out of the loop ever since Arthur Branch had pulled her off so fat that her head was still spinning from the shock "But didn't you say that when you picked Elliot up the next day he was so drunk that he didn't even recognize you at first?" she asked.

Munch nodded "Yeah but he could have gotten drunk afterwards. I mean, having just donw something like that would be enough to push Elliot into some very heavy drinking just to forget."

Fin and Casey stared at Munch, their mouths hanging open slightly "You think he did this?" Casey asked. She was teetering on the edge of infuriation. How could John think that Elliot could ever lay a hand on Olivia like that?

"I'm just saying that we should consider all possibilities," Munch said defensively "She was found a block away from his building."

"Purely circumstantial," Casey stood toe to toe with Munch and stared him down "It doesn't prove anything."

"You didn't see her Casey," Munch stated in a low voice.

"But I did." Fin told his partner softly "And I know that Elliot would never do that to her. He doesn't have it in him. We owe it to Olivia to find the real perp."

"What if he is the real perp?" Munch asked. He had a lot of doubts that he had kept inside. Everyone had been so sure that Elliot was innocent but in the end it wasn't so cut and dry.

"How can you even think that?" Casey asked incredulously "The person who hurt her is still out there and we aren't doing anything by fighting," she turned away and picked up a file from her desk "If you excuse me," she pushed past Munch angrily "I still have a job to do," she headed to the courtroom where she was prosecuting an indecent exposure case.

The two detectives simply stood in Casey's office, staring at each other "We should get going," Fin said softly before her walked out of the office, leaving Munch, regretting that he had ever voiced his opinions to the people he had called his friends.

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Cragen nodded to the two uniformed officers that kept vigil outside Olivia's room before he entered. He stood still for a moment; the sight never ceased to shock him. There she lay among the sheets in this bleak hospital room. He walked closer and pulled a chair up to the side of her bed that wasn't cluttered with life sustaining machinery. He took her hand and held it. It was so cold. He rubbed it between his hands in an effort to warm it.

He began to speak, wondering all the while if what people said about how people in comas could here it when people talked to them "I saw Elliot again today," he always started his talks to her this way "He's looking more worn down each day," he admitted in a soft voice. It was true; each day Cragen saw him, Elliot looked less and less like himself. Cops were housed away from general pop in prison and the guards were supposed to make sure that no one came after him but Cragen suspected that the guards weren't doing their job. Either they were being neglectful on purpose or they really were horrible guards. Either way, Cragen wouldn't even vocalize these thoughts to Olivia, even while she was in a coma.

"He misses you, you know," he continued "I'm trying to get the money together for his bail but two million in cash is hard to come by," he almost laughed then "Believe it or not, I actually have a million and a half already," his voice dropped again "He wants to see you and I'm sure you'd want him to but," he paused "I told you already that the judge put a restraining order on him."

Cragen hung his head "He needs you Olivia," he whispered "He told me again today to tell you he loves you. I know you love him too and that's why you have to fight this thing," he stared into Olivia's face for any sign that his words were getting through but as always, there was none.

"You've got to wake up and set everyone straight. I know that there's no way he could have done this to you but," he paused again and hated himself for the words he was about to say "Every day you lie there, it gets harder and harder for me to believe his innocence. There's nothing else we could find to say that he's not guilty. As it stands, the prosecution's evidence is shaky but it's more than the defense has."

He sighed "I don't want to believe it Olivia. I've known you both too long," he took a deep breath and let out a sardonic laugh to cover up the sob that was trying to erupt from his throat "But then, I never thought that you would end up in here like this."

He took a moment to compose himself before he continued to speak "Please Olivia, you've got to beat this thing. You have to wake up. I need to hear it from you. I need to know that he didn't do this," his doubts had slowly been getting the better of him for some time now. He didn't want to doubt Elliot and yet here he was, practically begging a comatose woman to miraculously wake up and confirm the truth for him because he wasn't strong enough to believe in Elliot by himself.

A nurse knocked on the frame of the door before walking in "I have to draw some blood," she explained to Cragen.

Cragen stood up and moved out of the young woman's way. He looked down at his watch and decided that it was time for him to get going anyway. He bent down and whispered in Olivia's ear "I'll see you tomorrow. Remember, you need to fight this," and with that, he left.


	2. Chapter 2: Inner Turmoil, Outer Struggle

**Elliot on Trial**

**Chapter 2: Inner Turmoil, Outer Struggle**

**A/N: Thanks to everyone who reviewed the first chapter. You guys are awesome! This chapter is dedicated to Essy, who told me that this story is her new favorite. That gave me the energy to write this second chapter because apparently seventeen reviews is no longer enough to feed my review addiction LOL. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter.**

Elliot lay back on the cot in his cell. His eyes were closed but he was definitely still awake. Prison life was taking its toll on him emotionally and physically. He hoped that Cragen could get his bail together soon. He'd been able to hold his own so far but he wasn't sure how much longer he could take this. He inadvertently rolled onto his side and quickly rolled back. He wondered if his ribs had been cracked that last time; it certainly felt like it.

"Hey there fellow criminal," Elliot's eyes shot open and he stared at the man who had just entered his cell.

"How did you get in here?" Elliot asked angrily as he sat up.

"I have my ways Detective," the man answered as he sat down beside Elliot on the cot, smiling the whole time "I suppose you won't be called Detective for long now will you?"

Elliot was about to stand up and call for the guard but he thought about it for a moment and realized that the guard was probably responsible for this in the first place "What do you want White?" he asked as he turned to the man beside him and took a defensive stance.

"Now, now Elliot," White began "I'd like to think that we could be friends. I mean, we are on the same side after all."

"You son-of-s-bitch," Elliot muttered "How dare you even think that I'm on your side."

White laughed "Going to keep up the innocent act forever Elliot?" he asked "You knew her for eight years and you're telling me that you never once thought of fucking her?"

Elliot's stomach churned as his anger threatened to bubble over "What do you want?" he hissed through clenched teeth.

White laughed once again "Avoiding the question I see," his grin grew "So you did think about it. How many times a day did you want to just reach across that desk of yours and grab her? How often did you imagine how she'd feel squirming beneath you? How was she when you actually did it?"

Elliot grabbed White by the throat "I never touched her and you know it."

"No," White said calmly as he effortlessly pushed Elliot off of him "I don't know that and neither does anyone else. I'm willing to bet that your co-workers are currently figuring out how to nail your ass to the wall."

Elliot froze. What White had just said had struck a cord. He wanted to believe that Cragen and the others believed his innocence but sometimes, he caught a glimpse of something in Cragen's eye during his daily visits. Elliot was afraid that no one had faith in him anymore.

"I see," White murmured "They've turned their backs on you Elliot. Don't you think that if they wanted to bail you out, they would've already?"

"It's a lot of money," Elliot responded simply. No matter what, he couldn't let White get inside his head.

"So it is," White murmured before changing the subject back to Olivia "So did she squirm?"

"How would I know?" Elliot countered bitterly "Why don't you tell me?"

White through his head back and let out a long, low laugh "Do you honestly think that if I had gotten out of this place that I would be here right now talking to you? Maybe it's a good thing that you won't be a detective anymore. You seem to be losing your edge."

"Maybe," Elliot said sarcastically.

"But seriously," White continued "What was it like to see the hurt in her eyes? The fear must have been beautiful. Did she see that it was you? Poor thing, she'd be better off dead than in a coma wouldn't she?"

"How did you know that she's in a coma?" Elliot asked, narrowing his eyes at White.

"Oh please," White chuckled "I assume you haven't been watching the news lately. Every channel is running the story about the cop who was brutalized by her partner and left to die."

"I never touched her," Elliot growled.

"Me thinks the Detective doth protest too much," White chuckled once again "You keep saying you never hurt her," he leaned closer to Elliot's face "But we both know you did," a sick smile crossed White's lips "And I want to hear about every, gruesome, graphic, sorted, little detail."

"If you want to know what happened," Elliot said, trying to control the anger that was nearly seeping out of every orifice "Why don't you find the guy who really did it," Elliot stood up and walked to the other side of the cell. He leaned against the wall and crossed his arms over his chest "And when you do, could you be so kind as to let me know who he is?"

"Why?" White asked "You want to know all the little intricacies of how your partner was violated?" White's sickening smile returned "I knew you were just like me."

"No," Elliot leaned forward "I want to know who he is so I can murder him."

White stood up "Well then," he told Elliot "I'll be sure to let you know if I find out." He crossed the cell so that he was standing next to Elliot "But let's just think about this hypothetically. Do you think she screamed? Do you think she cried?" White made a low growl of desire, simply thinking about a helpless Olivia Benson lying on the cold concrete as some unknown assailant showed her the price for being insolent.

"You get out of here right now," Elliot's tone was dangerously low "Believe me, I'm more than willing to give you a taste of what I plan to do to the person who hurt my partner."

White simply stayed where he was "I hate to break it to you Elliot but you have no power within these walls. You can't make me do anything. And believe me, if I still didn't have my heart so firmly set on that partner of yours, you can be assured that I'd be making you my bitch right now." And with that pleasant final thought, White turned and walked out of Elliot's cell.

Elliot sank onto the cot once more. Richard White was an arrogant son-of-a-bitch and every word the man said made Elliot want to hold his head in the toilet until the bubbles stopped. As he sat there, Elliot thought about how White could have possibly gotten past the guards. He came to the realization that the prison guards must truly have it out for him. He lay back on the cot but did not go to sleep. He stared at the ceiling of the cell and thought about one thing that White had said that was still getting to him. Where his co-workers really trying to nail his ass to the wall for this?

He knew that there had been a lot of pressure from the media to make an arrest. But most of the responsibility for that had been hefted off onto another squad. He couldn't believe that the people that he had worked with so closely for so many years had stopped trusting him. Could they seriously think that he would ever do that to Olivia?

Of course, Elliot knew that working at SVU each and every one of them had seen things that were almost as unbelievable. But still… this was Olivia. He could never fathom doing something like that to anyone but Olivia, he would never hurt her.

He thought about Olivia. He had thought of hardly anything else since the day that he had been told what happened. He hadn't been allowed to see her, even before he was charged. He had been the prime suspect from the first day; Olivia hadn't been dating in months and he was the only man who had any relationship with her outside of work.

He still remembered that morning. He had been so drunk. He had started drinking the previous night and just hadn't stopped. Unfortunately, 'I was at home drinking alone,' wasn't much of an alibi. All he could think in the days before he was arrested was that he needed to see Olivia. He wanted nothing more than to kill the son-of-a-bitch that had hurt her. Then he was arrested and locked up with bail set at two million in cash. He wouldn't even be able to see her if Cragen succeeded in posting bail.

He wondered if she was cold in the hospital room. He wondered if even though she was in a coma, if she felt lonely. He knew that Cragen visited everyday and talked to her but he also knew that Cragen's visits were only a small part of the day. Did nurses talk to her the rest of the time? Or did they simply do their business around her like she wasn't even there?

What he found himself wondering most often was if she was in pain. The thought made tears come to his eyes whenever it reared its head. He should have been able to protect her. He didn't know the full extent of her injuries but he knew that she would most likely be paralyzed from the waist down. The doctors weren't one hundred percent sure of the extent of the nerve damage, from what Cragen had told him.

He prayed for her every waking moment and in the few moments that he did sleep, he dreamed of her. He usually woke up crying whether the dreams were good or not; because even the good dreams were just dreams and would never be reality and the bad ones were too damned close to reality for his own comfort.

He rolled onto his side again, having forgotten about the pain that that would cause him but he soon remembered. He remained on his side this time though. All he could do was think of Olivia and he knew that he deserved whatever pain the prisoners or the guards decided to dish out because he had failed her as a partner and as a friend.

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"Have you got the money to bail Elliot out yet?" Casey didn't even bother with a greeting as she pushed past Cragen into his house.

"Good to see you too Casey," Cragen said as he watched her walk into his living room. He followed her and took a seat on across from her on the couch "I've almost got it," he told her. "But it hasn't been easy. I've had to raise it myself. No one wants to have anything to do with helping him get out of jail. This thing's just gotten too big in the media." If Cragen didn't know better about what was most likely happening to Elliot in prison, he would have almost thought that it would be better for him to stay there if only to be spared the media feeding frenzy that would undoubtedly attach themselves to him like parasites trying to get their next meal.

"I know," Casey sighed "I wish I could do more but if I put anymore money towards his bail, I won't be able to pay my rent at the end of the month," Casey knew that Elliot would never jump bail but his trial wasn't even starting for another five weeks and she just couldn't afford to wait. She hated herself for not giving him every penny she had. She told herself that a real friend would risk ending up homeless if it meant getting their innocent friend out of jail.

"Elliot wouldn't want you to put yourself out like that," Cragen said as if he could read her thoughts.

Casey stood up "You're talking about him like he's dead," Cragen's choice of words hadn't been lost on her. Perhaps she was still reeling from what Munch had said earlier that day but she felt awfully defensive at that moment. "He's just in jail Don," her voice was slowly rising against her will "We have to get him out. He could never do what the papers keep saying he did."

"I know Casey," Cragen said reassuringly. He may have been having his doubts but he refused to let anyone know about them, with the exception of Olivia. "I don't suppose that you could convince the ADA that's on the case now to ask the judge to lower bail to a million and a half?" he asked.

"Probably not," Casey sighed heavily, sinking down into the plump cushions once more. "Did you see Olivia today?" she asked, changing the subject.

Cragen nodded "There's been no change," he told her. "I'm gonna go back tomorrow but," he stopped. What he was about to ask was very hard for him. As of that afternoon, he had really only told Elliot that he would refuse to testify. He took a deep breath "When the trial starts, there are going to be… extenuating circumstances that will make it, well… impossible for me to go see her."

"What are you talking about?" Casey asked, confused.

"I'm not gonna testify for the prosecution," he told her simply.

"Why not?" she was stunned "You have to. You can't let the jury think that there's something to hide. That doesn't help Elliot in the long run."

Cragen sighed "It will," he told her, not wanting to get into any further detail about just what it was that he was hiding, about just why it was that he had sent them both home that fateful night. It hadn't been anything much more than one of their normal fights but it was enough, it was enough rope for the prosecution to hang Elliot. He shook his head quickly to try and clear the memory from the forefront of his mind "The point is Casey," he continued as if unfazed by the prospect of sitting in jail on contempt charges "I need you to visit her when I'm in jail. She needs someone there to talk to her, let her know what's going on. I'm not really sure any of it gets through but I think it's good that she hears a familiar voice."

Casey nodded "Okay," she said softly. She got up and headed for the door "It's late," she said as way of excusing herself. "I've still got a few cases that I haven't been yanked off of," she tried to laugh, tried to do something to break the heavy feeling that she had in her heart at that moment but she couldn't. "Good night."

"Good night Casey," Cragen said as he watched her walk down the front steps and to her car. Before she slid into the driver's seat, he called out "Next time, call first."

This made Casey smile slightly and she waved "I'll try," she called back "But I make no promises," she slid into the car, pulling the door shut behind her and sped away.


	3. Chapter 3: The Price For Freedom

**Elliot on Trial**

**Chapter 3: The Price For Freedom**

**A/N: Thanks to all of you for all of your wonderful reviews. I love reading them. The long reviews make me especially happy. This chapter is dedicated to Rach who has the flu. I love you girl! I hope you feel better soon and I hope that this chapter helps you make it through the misery associated with having the flu.**

The next day, Elliot made his way to meet with Cragen. His encounter with Richard White the night before was still fresh in his mind as he sat down and picked up the phone "Hey," he greeted in his now far too familiar worn out, sad tone. He saw that flicker of doubt in Cragen's eyes and felt his stomach drop.

"How are you doing in there?" Cragen asked seriously; his inability to raise the money for Elliot's bail was weighing heavy on his mind. He could see how tired and worn Elliot looked. The toll of prison life seemed even more prominent than it had been the day before. Cragen knew that something must have happened.

Elliot took his time before responding. Prison sucked. That was the point of prison. It was supposed to suck. It was meant as a punishment for the guilty. But Elliot was sure that even the guilty had as rough a time as he was having. He hated the guards that failed to protect him from the other inmates. He hated the inmates who enjoyed kicking him when he was down. He spent his time worrying about Olivia and wasn't as aware as he probably should have been when the guards snuck up behind him. He leaned back in his chair and sighed, casting his gaze upward "Do you have the money yet?" he asked, not meaning to sound as desperate as he did. But he was desperate.

"I've scraped the bottom of the barrel just to get the million and a half I have now," Cragen said regretfully "No one wants anything to do with you Elliot. The media has blown this thing so big that the public is afraid of what will happen if you get out." He truly wished he could post bail but he was stuck.

Elliot sighed in resignation. He knew he could take the beatings. After all, it was nothing compared to what had happened to Olivia. He slumped forward "I'll manage until trial," he told Cragen. He changed the subject quickly "How did she look yesterday when you saw her?"

"The same," Cragen told him "There's been no change."

"Do you think she's lonely?" Elliot asked. He couldn't help worrying about that. He was afraid that she would wake up alone and be afraid. He wanted to be there with her when she did. He wanted to be there to reassure her that it was okay, that she was safe. But he wouldn't be allowed to.

"I'm not sure," Cragen answered honestly.

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Elliot made his way back to his cell. He was lost in his thoughts and at first didn't see the other person sitting on his cot and in fact, nearly sat on top of him.

"Good to see you again," Richard White said and smiled when Elliot jumped.

"How the hell do you keep doing this?" Elliot asked angrily.

"I told you before," White's self important tone made Elliot want to punch him but he wasn't sure what that would lead to "I have my ways."

"Get out and leave me alone," Elliot tried to keep his voice even. He didn't want to alert the guards that something was up; he didn't know he should be worried about more, White or the people who were supposed to be protecting him from people like White.

"Now, now," White waggled a finger in Elliot's direction "Is that any way to treat an old friend?"

"You are not my friend," Elliot hissed "Now get out."

"I don't think so," White responded, leaning back against the wall on the far side of the cot "I just came here to talk Elliot. Don't look at me like you're expecting me to shank you."

"I wouldn't put it past you," Elliot muttered.

White laughed "Neither would I honestly," he said. "You're wise to be keeping your distance. But I swear on my mother's grave that I only came here to talk."

"Your mother's still alive," Elliot countered, pressing his back firmly against the far wall of the cell.

White sighed "Oh well, wishful thinking I suppose."

"Just leave," Elliot was having a hard time keeping his voice down; he was getting more and more nervous by the minute.

"What's it like to be on the wrong side of that thin blue line?" White asked suddenly.

"What?" Elliot asked. He was slowly letting himself be drawn into a conversation.

"You've crossed the line," White smiled "You're not one of them anymore. They're turning against you," he leaned forward "You never should have hurt one of their own."

Elliot groaned. White was unwavering in his belief that Elliot was the one who had hurt Olivia. "What's your game White?" Elliot asked suspiciously.

"Five card draw," White answered "I haven't gotten many chances to play poker in the years since you and your partner put me away. If you turn your back on one of these guys, they're liable to slit your throat with one of those cards," White leaned farther forward still, a devilish gleam in his eye "Not a deep cut you know, nothing fatal, just enough to make you bleed, maybe even collapse. Sound familiar Elliot?"

Elliot remained silent. It did indeed sound familiar. But White was obviously making up the story to get to him. There was no way that a playing card could do the same damage as a hunting knife, wielded by a psychopath. Elliot tried to push the memories of Victor Gitano out of his head as he stared at White. Still he said nothing.

White's grin blossomed into a full blown smile "After all the two of you have been through," he said in a soft voice, his tone almost gentle "How could you just leave her to die in an alley, alone? You wouldn't let her lie there in a crowded bus terminal so why leave her to die in an alley?"

Elliot cringed visibly. White must have been reading up on police interrogation techniques in the prison library or something because at that moment, Elliot felt like he was on the wrong side of the table, staring across the way at a seasoned veteran of the force. He took a deep breath "I never touched her," in the back of his mind, he wondered why he felt the need to defend himself to this ass.

"Did you ever threaten her?" White asked "She had a smart mouth. Maybe she said something about your family, something that got to you, made you so angry that you just… snapped?"

"Do you enjoy those detective novels?" Elliot quipped sarcastically, even as White's last remark struck a cord.

White laughed again "Kind of ironic that a prison has such a large selection of detective novels, isn't it?"

"Yeah," Elliot forced a small smile. He didn't realize it but his stance had relaxed slightly.

"You and your partner are responsible for putting more than a few people in this cell block here," White informed him. "But I guess life is just full of strange coincidences, isn't it?"

"Guess so," Elliot retorted. He was not about to believe that his fellow cops had set him up.

"How's your captain doing with coming up with the money for your bail?" White asked as if this were a pleasant conversation between two old friends.

"Running into a few problems," Elliot answered honestly but hid well from White his reservations about the predicament.

"Pity," White murmured and for a moment, Elliot was reminded of White's mother. The same detached, unfeeling attitude seemed to exude from her son at that moment. "On the plus side," White continued "It gives us more time to spend together."

"Oh goodie," Elliot said sarcastically. He did not look forward to spending any time with White; he wished that the older man would just leave or even better, drop dead.

"Do you think she'll ever wake up?" White asked suddenly and seemingly out of the blue.

Elliot was taken aback. He almost answered but he quickly remembered that White didn't care one way or the other if Olivia lived or died. It was just another way for White to get into Elliot's head and Elliot couldn't let that happen. Elliot decided to respond with a question of his own "Do you think you'll ever leave?"

"Probably not," White answered, seemingly unfazed as he made himself more comfortable on Elliot's cot. "She's probably the only hope you have of not spending the rest of your life in here," White continued "If you didn't do it of course."

Elliot sighed "What's it gonna take for you to leave me alone?" he asked.

White broke out into laughter yet again "Oh I don't think you want to know the answer to that question."

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Theodore Rockwell looked up from the papers on his desk when he heard the knock on his office door "Come in," he called out.

The door swung open and Casey walked in. She had been thinking long and hard about this and she decided she would do it for Elliot. She really disliked Rockwell. He was the ADA that Branch had assigned to prosecute the case against Elliot. He was a self important, smug, bastard, even his name sounded stuck up. She hated him from his perfectly groomed haircut to the tips of his eight hundred dollar shoes.

Sometimes, she imagined getting drunk at work just to have the satisfaction of vomiting all over those damned shoes. Getting fired for the misconduct would be a small price to pay to see the look on Rockwell's face. But today, she was here for a very different reason.

She walked over to Rockwell's desk "I need to speak to you about the Stabler case," she began, trying to sound professional and not desperate like she felt.

"Casey," Rockwell smiled "It's so good to see you. Please come in," his tone picked up an edge of sarcasm in the midst of all the arrogance "What's on your mind?" he laughed as he watched her sink into a chair across from his desk.

"Sorry," she said almost inaudibly. She hadn't meant to come across as forward as she had. She leaned forward in her seat "I need to talk to you about the Stabler case."

"There's nothing to talk about," Rockwell told her "He put a cop in the hospital. He nearly killed his partner. If the people who are entrusted to protect and serve us can't be ensured the same kind of protection, then what has this world come to?"

Casey scoffed "Save it for the courtroom you arrogant bastard."

Rockwell smiled "I will," he stood up and moved to the window of his office "What in particular did you come to me to talk about concerning your friend's case?" Rockwell knew what he was doing and he knew why Casey had come. At least, he knew what she would have done for him before she left. Arthur Branch had no idea of the kind of man that Rockwell really was. Branch was a trusting fool.

Casey felt her stomach do a somersault "I wanted to ask you to go to the judge and get her to approve ROR for Elliot."

"ROR," Rockwell turned and stared at Casey with wide eyes "This man nearly killed one of New York's finest and you want me to tell the judge that I'm okay with him being released on his own recognizance?" he turned back to the window "Just what have you been doing with all that free time you've had since Branch gave the case to me?"

Casey suppressed a growl of frustration and continued to plead Elliot's case "He is one of New York's finest and-"

"Was Casey," Rockwell corrected "He was one of New York's finest. He's crossed a line that will never be uncrossed."

"The thin blue line?" Casey questioned with a sarcastic laugh.

"Laugh if you will Casey," Rockwell said smoothly "But cops take it seriously when one of their own is hurt, even if the one who is accused of hurting that person is also one of their own."

"He's an innocent man," Casey stood to her feet.

"He's on the wrong side of the line now Casey," Rockwell told her "Neither you nor any of your little friends at SVU can help him now. By the way," he looked at her quizzically "Why do they want to help someone who brutalized a member of their own unit?"

"Because they no him," Casey defended "And they know he's innocent."

"I'm sorry," Rockwell said regretfully, not regretful for his inability to help Elliot but regretful that he wouldn't have Casey's gratitude for the favor. "I can't help you."

"How is it gonna look for your career if the defendant for your big case gets killed in jail before the trial even starts?" Casey asked, knowing that she had hit a nerve.

"What are you talking about?" Rockwell's curiosity had been peeked.

"Like you said," Casey said wryly "He's on the wrong side of the line now. Do you think the guards are going to protect him?"

"You may have a point," Rockwell scratched his head as he pondered what Casey had said. He decided he could most likely pull this off without ruining his career "I might be able to do something but…" he trailed off; there was still one part of this bargain that hadn't been fulfilled.

Casey knelt in front of Rockwell. She had known full well that this is what would end up happening if she was successful in asking Rockwell to recommend ROR. She watched as Rockwell unzipped his pants. She had to remember that she was doing this for a friend, an innocent man who would most likely die in jail if she didn't. She closed her eyes and leaned forward ever so slightly, taking Rockwell's hardened erection into her mouth.

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"Hi Olivia," Cragen began as he sat down beside her bed. "You need to wake up soon," he didn't waste any time beating around the bush "You need to clear all of this up."

Olivia remained silent; Cragen hadn't really been expecting a response "Elliot's not looking well," he told her and he swore that he saw a twitch in her face. "I can't get the money for his bail together. I've pumped Munch, Fin and Casey for as much money as they can give. I've been asking everyone who ever knew Elliot to help out but Olivia," he faltered "They all believe the papers and what they see on the evening news."

Cragen sighed, hanging his head "He can't stay in there much longer," he told her. "And as it stands now, there are only two ways he's coming out of there alive," there it was again, that almost imperceptible twitch. Cragen tried not to jump to conclusions and he pressed on "Either I find an extra half million dollars lying around or you wake up and tell us that we've all made a huge mistake," he sighed heavily "Both of those seem really unlikely right now."

Little did Cragen know that there was in fact another way for Elliot to get out of jail; Cragen didn't know that that way would cost someone he knew their dignity. He was not aware that even as he spoke to Olivia, the plan had already been put into motion by Theodore Rockwell and that by the end of the day, Elliot would be sitting in his apartment, lamenting in front of the television. He had no idea that at that moment, Casey Novak sat in her empty office, crying.


	4. Chapter 4: The Witness And The Hero

**Elliot on Trial**

**Chapter 4: The Witness And The Hero**

**A/N: This chapter is dedicated to Dramawitsvu17 who helped me not be so depressed that my birthday is on Saturday and none of my friends are able to do anything with me. Kid, you are so helpful to my bruised ego.**

Holly Curtis brushed her long dark hair back and pulled it up into a ponytail. She gathered her books together for her day of classes. She was a graduate student at NYU, studying to get her masters degree in communications. She strolled into the kitchen of her apartment and popped a frozen waffle in the toaster.

She reached for the remote and flipped on the small TV that sat on the kitchen counter. As she reached into the refrigerator for the apple juice she sighed. The news stations were still running the same story. Holly hated herself for not coming forward but that man had been going to kill her; he had nearly killed that woman who had helped Holly out that night. She knew they had arrested the wrong man but she was so unbelievably terrified of the man who had grabbed her that she just couldn't come forward.

The waffle popped out of the toaster and Holly took a deep gulp of her apple juice. If it weren't for the fact that she had class that day, she wouldn't even be leaving her apartment. She reached for the waffle and took a bite. Suddenly, she stopped mid chew. On the news they were saying that the man that they had arrested had been released. On the screen was a picture of the man, whose name was Elliot Stabler, being hounded by reporters.

Holly's mouth dropped open; the man looked like a ghost. She wondered if he had always looked that way or if prison had done that to him. She suddenly wasn't hungry anymore. She dropped the rest of the waffle in the garbage and poured the remainder of her apple juice down the sink. She knew now that she couldn't be responsible for sending this man back to jail. She grabbed her coat, knowing that she would most likely miss class that day.

Before she left the apartment, she grabbed the nine millimeter that she had gotten the day after she had narrowly escaped. She remembered reluctantly waiting for the permit and not sleeping a wink until she had the gun under her pillow.

She left the apartment and locked the door behind her. She knew she had to come forward, if only for that poor man and that woman in the hospital who had helped her even though she didn't have to.

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There wasn't enough mouthwash in the world to make Casey forget how he tasted. She spit the fourteenth mouthful of scope into the sink and wiped her mouth. It was worth it, she tried to tell herself. Elliot was out of jail and back at his apartment and safe from the inmates.

Casey hadn't gotten the courage to go talk to him yet. She hadn't really had the nerve to face anyone since yesterday after she had left Rockwell's office. She hated Rockwell. She still remembered when he had come to her just after Branch had reassigned the case to him. He had informed her in no uncertain terms that he would be ruthless in court and that if she ever wanted leniency for her friend, there was one thing that she could do for him. She had tried to tell Branch about Rockwell's inappropriate behavior but Branch had been unwilling to accept her word.

Branch had never not trusted her before but he had never had reason to doubt her before. The fact that the accused and the victim were both detectives from the unit that Casey worked exclusively with was reason enough for him to believe that she would be angry enough to make up false allegations against the man who had been assigned to prosecute.

In that moment, Casey hated Branch. She was down right angry at the whole God damned world. Another twenty mouthfuls of scope later and she finally decided that it was useless. She walked out of the bathroom and into the living room just in time to hear the phone ring.

She walked to it and picked up the receiver "Hello?" she began in a questioning tone.

"Casey," it was Fin "Are you all right? You sound…" he couldn't describe how she sounded.

"I'm fine," she answered simply as she sank down into the chair beside the phone "What's up?"

"Just wanted to tell you that Elliot's out," Fin had no idea that Casey had played a roll in getting Elliot ROR. Casey almost told him but she stopped herself. It was too embarrassing, even to admit it to Fin or John.

"That's great," she said instead.

"Wanna go pay him a visit?" Fin asked. Normally he would have asked John to go but as he stared across his desk at his partner, he remembered John's words two days earlier in Casey's office 'What if he's the perp?' that doubt was not something Fin wanted to impose on Elliot at this time.

"Sure," Casey responded "When?"

"I'll pick you up when I get off work," he told her.

"Okay," she smiled a small smile into the phone "See you then."

"See ya," Fin responded "Bye," Casey heard a click and she held the phone in her hand for a few seconds longer before hanging up, herself.

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Fin stood up from his desk "I'm gonna go to the lab and see if they've got any hits from the fingerprints that CSU found at the Landon crime scene," he told Munch as he headed out the door.

"Okay," Munch muttered in response as he turned his attention back to the paperwork on his desk. He continued to work in silence for nearly a half hour before the sound of someone softly and nervously clearing their throat echoed through the empty space.

He looked up and saw a very pale young woman standing in the open double doors. She was trembling almost imperceptibly. Her long dark hair was pulled back into a ponytail and her dull green eyes told Munch that this woman had a story to tell. He stood from his desk and approached her, careful not to startle her. "Can I help you?" he asked.

"Yes," the woman said softly "I'd like to speak to captain Cragen."

"He's in there," Munch motioned to the captain's closed office door and watched in curiosity as the young woman knocked and disappeared inside.

Munch returned to his desk and continued to do his paperwork, looking up occasionally at the door to Cragen's office. He wondered what that woman wanted.

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"Captain Cragen?" Holly said nervously. She didn't know where she was supposed to go. She had heard on the news that both Elliot and Olivia were detectives in the Manhattan SVU so she had come to Cragen in hopes that he would know what to do.

"Yes," Cragen said in a soft voice as he motioned for Holly to sit down. "Can I help you Miss…"

"Curtis," Holly said softly "I'm Holly Curtis."

"Well Ms. Curtis," Cragen continued "Is there something I can help you with?"

"I think I can help clear an innocent man," Holly whispered.

Cragen's eyes widened. Immediately he thought of Elliot but mentally slapped himself. The chances that this woman was referring to Elliot were slim to none. He took a pad out of the top drawer of his desk and uncapped his pen. "Okay," he prompted Holly gently "What happened?"

Holly took a long time before speaking next. She was nervous and ashamed. Now that she was here, she couldn't believe that it had taken her so long to come forward. "A little over three weeks ago I was walking home late at night," she began.

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"Good morning Lila," Heather Rockwell smiled at her younger sister. Both women made it a point to get together at least one morning a week for tea. Heather often enjoyed bragging about her son to Lila.

Lila White in contrast, rarely mentioned her son and secretly resented her older sister for never being able to shut her mouth. "Good to see you again Heather," she smiled politely as she beckoned her sister inside.

Heather strolled past her sister and into the sitting room with a sort of flourish that Lila absolutely despised. Even as an old woman, whenever Heather walked into a room, all eyes were instantly drawn to her. Lila sometimes found herself thinking that it would have been absolutely wonderful if her son had killed his aunt instead of some prosecutor that had crossed him.

Heather sat down and smiled at her sister "You know," she began "Theodore is prosecuting that big case. You know, the one that's been all over the news."

"That's wonderful," Lila forced a smile as she poured tea for her sister.

"Isn't it though," Heather said blissfully. "This will be such a wonderful stepping stone in his career."

"Of course," Lila put in as she sat back in her chair and just prayed for this visit to end soon.

"Of course the defendant swears he didn't do it," Heather continued at lightening speed, barely acknowledging her sister as anything more than her audience "But that doesn't matter. Theodore will get the conviction no problem."

"What if he really is innocent?" Lila asked curtly, hoping to take some of the wind out of her sister's sails.

"What?" Heather snapped her head in Lila's direction as if she had only just noticed that her sister was even there. "Oh, does that even matter?" she asked.

"I suppose not," Lila replied coldly, allowing her eyes to drift closed for just a second.

"Oh," Heather said suddenly as if something had just occurred to her "How's Richard doing?" she asked snidely, knowing that she had touched on a sensitive topic. "He hasn't been attacked lately in prison has he?"

"I wouldn't know," Lila responded coolly. The truth was that she avoided having any contact with her son if she could. He called her on her birthday and on mother's day like a dutiful good natured child would but she made no attempt to reach out to him. She knew that he only called her to embarrass her. To Lila White, appearance was everything and having a son in jail did nothing but make her look bad.

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Elliot sat on his couch simply staring off into space when he heard the knock on his door. He groaned, pulling himself into a standing position and crossing the few feet to the door. He swung the door open to see Cragen, Casey, Munch and Fin standing there. He was instantly suspicious. For some reason, the first thought that flashed through his mind was that he was going back to jail. "Yeah?" he questioned.

It was then that he caught the gleam in Cragen's eye. It wasn't the flicker of doubt that he had occasionally seen during those visits in prison. This time it was a gleam of hope, a flicker of happiness and the sort of fatherly warmth that Elliot hadn't sensed from his captain in too long.

"We found a witness," Cragen said quietly as he tried to maintain a professional exterior, while inside, he wanted nothing more than to jump up and down with joy like a little kid.

"What?" Elliot asked. What Cragen was saying seemed almost to good to be true "Have you caught the person who did it yet?" he asked. He wanted to wrap his hands around the bastard's neck and kill him slowly and painfully.

"Not yet," Cragen told him "But the witness is providing us with a sketch. We'll get him Elliot."

Elliot sighed in relief as he stepped away from the door, allowing his friends to enter. Cragen gave Elliot a quick hug and a pat on the back. Fin did the same. Casey smiled but remained standoffish. When it came to Munch, he hesitated.

Munch looked Elliot up and down. He felt so guilty that he had ever doubted him. He finally gave Elliot a quick handshake "Good to have you back," he said simply.

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Cragen and Elliot walked through the ICU. The judge had lifted the order of protection based on Holly Curtis's statement. Elliot felt his heart beating faster the closer they got to Olivia's room; he hadn't seen her since that night, just before they had left the station house. They had been so angry with each other; they had both been working way too many hours without sleep on a case that had been bleeding them dry, a case that, in the weeks since that night, Munch and Fin had been able to wrap up for them.

"Right in here," Cragen said softly to Elliot as they reached the room where the two uniformed officers stood guard. "I'll let you go first," Cragen gave Elliot a small nudge in the direction of the door, knowing that Elliot had been wanting the chance to talk to her for weeks.

"Thanks," Elliot smiled softly at his captain in appreciation before entering the room.

The second he saw her, he felt the air leave his lungs and it took him a long time to get it back. He nearly fell to the floor right then and there. He pulled the chair close to her bedside and took her hand. "Hey Liv," he began as soon as he could find his voice again. She was so incredibly pale. It broke his heart to see her this way. He didn't know how lucky he was that he hadn't been allowed to see her back before the bruises had faded.

"They found someone who cleared me," he whispered, rubbing his thumb over the palm of her hand gently as he spoke. He had been told the gist of what the witness had said. Olivia had saved the young woman's life. "You did a good thing Olivia," he told her. It was probably the most unnecessary thing to say. He just wanted to let her know that he knew.

"I'm so sorry that I wasn't there," he whispered as tears came to his eyes "I'm so sorry that this happened to you." His guilt had been crushing down on him since the day that he'd found out that she had been hurt but for some reason, it had never been stronger than it was right there, actually being able to see for himself what had happened to her.

"That night," he continued "We were both so angry. I didn't mean to… those things I said before Cragen sent us both home… You know I didn't mean them right?" he wanted her to wake up then and tell him that she knew that what he had said that night was out of frustration and anger and fatigue and that he didn't mean to direct it towards her. He desperately needed her forgiveness for all of his sins.

"Why were you near my building?" he asked. Part of him was truly expecting an answer. "Were you coming to see me?" he didn't want to think about it. She had been attacked on her way to apologize for an argument that wasn't her fault. God, he was a horrible human being.

"Please wake up Olivia," he whispered "I need to tell you so many things." He began to cry softly.

A soft moan came from the bed followed by several different machines beeping all at once. Elliot felt his heart in his throat. In that instant, he couldn't move fast enough, he couldn't yell loud enough as he leapt to his feet. "I need a doctor in here!" he called out desperately.


End file.
